


Turtleduck adoption.

by rolex_muncher



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Actually most parents are a better option than Ozai, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, This turtleduck is a better parent than Ozai, Turtle-ducks are of a superior species, Yes he is baby, Zuko gets adopted by a turtleduck, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24120808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rolex_muncher/pseuds/rolex_muncher
Summary: There's a human edging dangerously near home.It is red, like all the others. But small. The colours on his fabrics has more weird gold squiggles than the brownish red clothing she normally sees.She ends up adopting him.Mother turtle-ducks protect their children after all.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Ursa & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 102
Kudos: 1099
Collections: A:tla, Finished111





	1. Chapter 1

There's a human edging dangerously near home.

It is red, like all the others. But small. The colours on his fabrics has more weird gold squiggles than the brownish red clothing she normally sees.

She stares at him warily and quacks an inquiry.

He bends down and reaches into sleeve.

Unsure of the meaning of reaching into sleeve,she quacks a mighty protective quack and puts herself in front of her offspring.

A small crunchy wheat cube falls out of his sleeve.

Small human brings food!

She hesitates.

Humans are malicious, crafty creatures..

Small human does not move. His weird gold eyes are big. 

Food smells good.

Perhaps small human is good too.

She will give him the benefit of doubt.

She warily approaches and nibbles food. It tastes wonderful.

Small human leans back. He bares teeth, eyes tightening, but he doesn't attack.

He give more food and says gibberish.

Bare teeth is good, she learns. It is like twitching fluffy tail.

It means happy.

She boops small human with beak and waddles away to offspring.

_______________

Small human comes to give her food a lot.

Mostly when the sun is setting.

Sometimes he is happy, sometimes his chin wobbles and hand shakes, eyebrows squeezed together.

He likes to sit by the pool and speak gibberish. She wonders why he doesn't just quack. Quack is easier than the odd convoluted string of sounds humans use.

She supposes turtle-ducks are just superior to stupid humans.

She may not understand but she tries sympathising. The small human hunches into himself, not unlike retreating into a shell. Sad. Fearful. 

She picks up the little gestures he does when he's upset. Humans have patterns. He pinches nose, fiddles with hand, plays with hair. 

When small human is down she lets him pet her. Sometimes her offspring waddles onto the small human too. She sits in his lap as they settle in his hair, or perch on his shoulders, or snoozes on his sleeves. 

The small human is very careful with her offspring. He sits still, elbows tight but face relaxed, slowly petting her coat. His hands are soothing, she likes it.

Small human calms down when he is touching her feathers. 

Another reason turtle-ducks are superior.

  
  
  
  


Eventually small human is no longer just food bringer or shell massager or offspring perch.

He is more than that.

He is baby.

_ Child _ .

Mother turtle-ducks protect their children. 

  
  
  
  


______________

Child calls her Quackers.

Yes she quack.

Very good name.

Proud of you child.

Here's another boop.

________________

  
  


Child brings another smaller human and a female human to her pond.

Quackers quacks as greeting.

The new humans are both of his blood. One a sibling, the other a mother. They have the same silky black hair and golden eyes. 

Sibling is fidgety but settles down next to child after being cooed at by the mother. Child places his hand on sibling's, and guides the small hand towards her feathers. Sibling is hesitant, but follows her brother's lead and pets her coat. She lets out a string of high pitched sounds in delight at the fluffy sensation. (They're called giggles in human.)

She quacks at the fellow mother in approval as she ruffles child and sibling's hair. 

* * *

  
  


Sibling and mother visits a lot.

Until there are sparks of glowing orange.

The humans look in wide eyed delight as the small sibling holds the sun in her palms.

Quackers quacks in amazement.

There is much happy noises among the humans after that.

But then sibling comes less often.

And with azure sparks 

never at all.

_____________

Child was playing with Quackers' offspring when the angry boom boom man came.

He quickly retreats from the pool and bows,terrified.

The angry man nods, and glances towards her.

She shakes the water off her shell and her beady eyes meet his stubbornly.

She doesn't like him.

He is fire, like child and sibling and other mother.

But colder than pond water during the winter days. His gaze quickly turns towards child and harsh mashed up sounds makes child flinch. Her small human speaks, but his voice is small and restrained. 

Child doesn't visit for the next few days.

He returns looking over his shoulder, and murmurs an apology. ( Yes Quackers figured out what's an apology, she's a smart turtle-duck.)

She gives him a reassuring quack and her offsprings pile onto him as comfort. Child bares his teeth in a good way again, and lies down in the grass.

That was not the only time angry boom boom man visited. Sometimes he comes with sparks in his palms and head held high in nauseating arrogance. 

She doesn't care about human social statuses and messy relationships, but child shrinks into himself when he is near,knuckles white. Child is afraid.

She hates whoever makes her child afraid.

________________

Sibling returns.

Not for her.

She sneers coldly, too much like the angry boom boom man for comfort.

Quackers wonders when this small human started resembling a predator, fangs sharp, ready to pounce. 

She needs to be humbled.

So Quackers snatches the fabric on her leg and pulls.

Unbalanced, the sibling topples backwards and falls into the pond. Her offsprings let out quacks of surprise and waddles away from the soaking wet lump.

She quacks in triumph as child giggles.

_________________

There is a old fat man that smells of tea at her home.

No.

Not only tea.

Also war and bloodshed and crippling despair.

She turns away and preens her offspring's feathers.

It's awfully idiotic of humans to butcher each other when they essentially a very big family. Turtle-ducks are smarter than that.

________________

  
  


The other mother is gone.

Child nuzzles into her. Is weird gesture, but child calms down. His face is buried in her feathers. There is water leaking out of his eyes.

She puffs up feathers and quacks into his ear. Perhaps he would cheer up for food. 

Quackers snatches a fish and smacks it into child's face.

Child lets out a gasp and wipes away eye water. He bares his teeth in good way and murmurs gibberish into her. Child is very sad. 

She lets him sob into her coat.

Now that his mother is gone, she will be his mother.

  
  


She will be best mother.

  
  


__________________

She's worried.

Very worried.

Something will go very very wrong.

She follows her child into a big room full of humans.

Then there's noise and her child is on his knees begging.

the angry boom boom man 

_ his father _

puts a hand on her child's face

_ And burns. _

She only feels blind rage as she launches herself at the man and attacks in a flurry of feathers and vicious quacks tearing away at the human's flesh because  _ you hurt my child you  _ **_burnt_ ** _ my child and you will suffer  _

There's screaming and heat searing her wings hands pulling and bludgeoning she doesn't stop until his face is a mangled bloody pile of filth.

______________

  
  


There's a half dead bird smoldering on the Agni Kai stage.

The Fire Lord no longer has the left side of his face.

(like his son)

The Dragon of the West runs with his scarred nephew.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Consequently

Zuko heard the rumours, Uncle Iroh saw it first hand.

  
  


Ozai was disfigured by a crazed turtleduck.

  
  


_His father. The firelord. Ruler blessed by Agni. Lost against an adorable fluffy palace bird._

  
  


He didn't know whether to laugh or sob. 

  
  


Uncle Iroh had whisked him away while fath- Ozai was delirious from the attack, left eye blinded and skin a mangled wreck. The fire lord had screamed profanities, swearing to kill the "pathetic garbage" that was his firstborn.

He kept his word, and Zuko was declared an assassin, a traitor, execution due once Agni rises in the east.

  
  


Uncle saw it coming.

  
  


( _Zuko couldn't help but wonder: what did it feel like to know your brother is a monster?_ )

  
  


The general bought the first large ship he could get his hands on, recruited a bunch of misfits, and left Fire Nation waters before Ozai could even speak.

  
  


They were in the Cabin of the Wani, Zuko feverish and weak. He'd taken pain relievers, but a part of him still screamed in agony as he recalled the smell of burning skin against a father's palm.

  
  


Zuko had his head against Uncle's shoulder. For some reason, he didn't cry. Just wheezed painfully against silk.

  
  


"He's wrong," Iroh said, ruffling his long disheveled hair, "you're not a traitor. Your father is merely a cruel man undeserving of you."

  
  


"I know." The prince sniffed. The illusion of his father's greatness was torn down to pieces the moment he learnt Ozai called for his execution. 

  
  
  


Denial hit first, when he opened his eyes and realized he'd never return home alive. 

  
  


_Father wouldn't, father **couldn't** !_

  
  


But he did.

  
  


Father did.

  
  


_But father loves me!_

  
  


Father killed grandfather, father may have killed mom.

Why wouldn't he kill you too?

  
  


Acceptance came faster than he'd ever imagined.

  
  


It soothed the pain better than the spoonfuls of fabricated sugar ~~(fatherly love)~~ he fed himself whenever Ozai made him suffer.

  
  


_( He flung his duo swords around with more grace than he ever did firebending. They blurred into a silvery strip as he finished his dance. Swords came to him much faster than bending. Azula said they were below him, but Zuko liked the feel of leathery hilt against his palms._

_Suddenly there was hot breath against his neck and his father grabbed his wrists with overwhelming brutality. it-hurts- "Sorry, father, I will go practice my firebending katas right this ins-" Zuko stifled a scream as father seared his lesson into his flesh._

_"See what you've done? You won't be able to practice both until you understand. )_

  
  


**You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher.**

  
_bullshit_.

He was naive to think Ozai could ever love. He knows that now.

  
  


Zuko looked up in a determined frown.

  
  


"He's not my father, Uncle. Not anymore. I'm dead to him."

  
  


_And he's dead to me._

  
  


_________

  
  
  
  


Pain .

  
  


No one dealt with her after she dealt with angry boom boom man.

  
  


She laid there. Bleeding. Feathers singed, wings melted.

  
  


Humans rushed around.

lot of high pitched noises.

Screams?

  
  


Pain .

  
  


She doesn't remember much.

  
  


slowly dragging herself behind curtains?

  
  


She was a mighty turtle-duck. She wouldn't die.

  
  


_The small human she welcomed into the nest still needed her._

__________

  
  
  
  


Pain. But little less.

  
  


She opens her beady eyes to a human.

She recognise. It is one of her child's.

  
  


She quacks weakly as thanks.

  
  


It wraps her wings with white sheets and gives her food.

  
  


Leg is missing.

  
  


She practices flap-hopping. It is hard.

________________

  
  
  


Ming found the turtle-duck while mopping the fire lord's blood from the obsidian floors.

  
  


She recognizes the golden brown patches on its tail. One of Prince Zuko's treasured birds. Prince Zuko was gone now, half an ocean away as the fire lord fumes.

  
  


The 13 year old was formally declared a traitor by his father the day before, his crime high treason and attempted assassination. The princely title was striped from him soon after, princess crowned as heir.

  
  


(None of the servants believed his claims. They all saw what he did to the sweet boy who saved them honey cakes and remembered their birthdays.)

  
  


She lifted the bird and hid it under layers of silk, avoiding eye contact until she reached her quarters.

  
  


Fire Lord Ozai was fuming, his servants executed left and right for minor slights. The palace was in a nervous buzz. Ming will leave the palace next week,along with a quarter of the palace's terrified staff. Her brother, a high standing officer among the Yuyan, would let her stay at Pohuai as a caregiver.

  
  


( they are escaping for their lives and the prince that dared to stand up for his people)

  
  


Ming glanced down at the turtleduck. It was the one who disfigured the firelord ~~did what they all wanted to do~~ in a fit of murderous rage for its owner.

  
  


It was a proud and stubborn thing, heart still beating weakly despite its missing leg and broken wings.

  
  


She understands that if the bird was discovered, she'd be a pile of ashes slowly ascending into the wind. But she looked at the injured bird, and determination fueled her. It was the least she could do as retribution against the cruel man who sat on the Dragon's Throne.

  
  


____________

  
  
  


The human brings her to her pond. 

A scorched crater.

  
  


____________

  
  


Azula hides in her room.She curls on her bed and screams into the pillow. 

_Father was maimed by a turtle-duck._

So ridiculous.

But she was there when it happened, when father screamed at a turtle-duck and _bolted_ instead of burning it to ashes like a proper firebender.

His firebending was a mess of fireballs and flame breaths. Messy and ineffective. The bird continued it's assault against the _fire lord_ and managed to blind him. Tear off half his face.

_Father was supposed to be_ **_perfect_ ** _. He always is. Father never makes mistakes._

But he was defeated by a turtle-duck.

_(And he wants to kill Zuzu. A traitorous voice in the back of her head sung._

_Maybe father isn't perfect. )_

  
  


The pillow burned a bright blue.

  
  


_____________

  
  


Zuko slowly unwinds his bandages.

  
  
  
  


It's a heart wrenching process, every loop revealing more of the blazing red flesh and dead skin his father left as a parting gift. 

Zuko traced his fingers along the edge of his scar. It was vaguely shaped like a flaming hand, Ozai's fingertips seared into his scalp.In place of his brows and lashes were melted skin, and there was a burnt patch on his hairline where hair would never grow.

  
  
  


He removed the last strip of bandage, and was blinded by the light entering his left eye. Joy overan his disgust and he let out a raspy giggle.

  
  
  
  


_He wasn't blind!_

  
  
  
  


Uncle was surprised as Zuko turned towards him beaming. (He was expecting more tears and angry frustrated sparks.) 

  
  


But Iroh still couldn't stop himself from flinching as he took in the angry red scar seared into his nephew's face .

  
  


Zuko's expression soured. " Uncle, I know it's not pretty, but look, I can still see! " He gestured towards his left eye. It's reduced to a silt, but the golden gleam was still there.

Iroh hummed.

" Luckily so, Zuko. Thank Agni! You're taking this much better than I thought."

  
  
Zuko stilled. Hesitated. And sneered at the ceiling before turning back to face Iroh.  
  


There was a cruel delight in his golden eyes when he replied. "It hurts, but Ozai bears a much more humiliating scar. One that took away both his sight and his dignity. A symbol of his own cruelty. It comforts me when I think about it."

  
  
  
  


Guiltily, Iroh felt the same brutal giddiness.

  
  



	3. Quack.

The people are whispering.

About their lord.

About their prince.

And about that turtle-duck that some say was set upon them by Agni himself.

They say the bird had glowing eyes and bathed in fire.

It disappeared after ripping the Fire Lord's eye from its socket.

"It's Agni's punishment," a dishwasher whispers, " for the Fire Lord is unworthy.."

"The prince is now announced a traitor," another whispers, " perhaps he trained the bird and set it upon his father."

Her words were condemned, " The prince is a child, and kind as well. My cousin worked in the palace."

"They say the Fire Lord burnt his son's face off, and the bird was sent by the spirits as retribution." A customer murmurs.

There are nods of agreement.

* * *

  
  


The growing embers of rebellion, they have a fluffy turtle-duck on their emblems.

_Quack_ , they quack to each other cautiously, quack quack.

Those are quacks of resentment.

The country is resentful.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be a series ;)


	4. Azula ponders.

The advisers and generals were talking about a minor rebellion in the outskirts of Caldera.

Azula bit into the steamed sweet mango-potato and listened silently alone from across the room.

“Combined with the recent famine and the firstborn prince’s betrayal, public resentment has peaked.”

The man cautiously glanced at her, and continued with a lower voice,” they say the firelord is no longer blessed. Is it true?”

She instinctively wanted to demand his immediate death for such outrageous words,but the reply piqued her interest. The speaker was a fire sage of considerable rank.

“The Caldera flame extinguished yesterday. Any attempt at relighting it ended in failure. What more can I say?”

The flame of Agni was dead. On the day her father was triumphed by an allegedly-blessed turtleduck.

Azula retreated into her chambers to reconsider her position.

* * *

  
  


Father didn’t allow anyone besides his favoured physician to approach him.

Months later, he returned to court with a gold plated mask covering the left of his face. He did not waste any time on her and instead announced the decimation of several noble families. 

The men screamed and clawed as they were taken away.

* * *

  
  
  


Azula stared at her Father’s mangled wreck of a face on her 12th birthday.

''Father, it was not my intention-"

Her father pressed his palm into her wrists and seared the lesson into her flesh.

She let out a strangled cry but quickly gritted her teeth as her wrists screamed white hot pain.

Father had never burned her before. Zuko made stupid mistakes, but _never_ her.

It seemed an eternity before Father let go, and Azula's wrists hung limp by her sides.

She could taste iron.

"I apologize, father."

She didn't look up.

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

She couldn’t properly firebend for two weeks after that.

Fire came, but as little puffs of smoke, useless and pathetic. Like Zuko.

Father looked at her with cold eyes. Like he did with Zuko.

She’s not Zuko, she’s not, and never will be.

(She occasionally hopes that there would be a small figure crouched next to the turtleduck pond when she returns to the courtyard)

"According to your instructors, I believe you have mastered your most recent set of Katas."

Azula nods. Eyes lowered.

"I expect you to successfully sustain your cold flames by the end of this month."

"I will not disappoint, Father."

There's the sweeping sound of silk against woolen carpet as Father left the room.

Azula dismisses her mortified servants and returns to her training grounds alone.

She starts with the basics, puffs of orange flames pummeling from her fists until white flickers in. She twirls and kicks and spins, mind racing as fast as her limbs.

Father is slipping. The mash of scar tissue on his face makes it hard for most to differentiate between Ozai's expressions, but Azula knows her father too well to be bothered by it. There's a foreign glint of paranoid terror in his eyes.

Consequent of Zuko's Agni Kai.

The palace staff calls it the Turtle-duck incident. They giggle in hushed groups. They think she's oblivious to their traitorous whispers, but she knows all too well.

The fire lord is insane, they say.

He is no longer blessed.

The fires of Caldera no longer burn as bright.

She hears the whispers, and Father does too.

That's why the palace is under shutdown, executions constant, the staff cut off from the rest of the nation. He fears the rumours.

It didn't stop them from spreading like wildfire.

Father is _furious._ And hence volatile. He lashes out towards his staff and advisers and daughter. Burns them, sometimes into crisps.

Father no longer visits her lessons. 

When Zuko was around, it was easier for her. His incompetence bloomed her perfection.

Now that he's gone, there's no one to compare to. Azula had to drill harder, decent forms perfected, just to have Father throw a glance.

That infantile hope didn’t last. Father doesn't come for her lessons anymore. 

“ You are of dragonblood, and you will act so. You will learn to seek weakness in prey and predator alike.”

And that she did. She set her gaze on her godlike father, his once burning eyes and obsidian stance. She took in every outrage, every flinch. And Azula could fear him no longer. Not this pathetic hermit, disposed by Agni. He's shut himself in, terrified of every judging glance. 

He’s so _afraid_ of being seen as weak.

She'd never have thought so before, when Father was _father_. She has juggled with traitorous thoughts but never believed in it. Father was the Fire Lord, ruler of her nation, her life was his to claim.

But she recalls the paranoid scarred man that no longer towers above her and...

He's _pathetic_.

Azula's flames flicker blue from a strong kick.

**_I’m better than him._ **

She twirls, and the flames remain blue.

  
  


On the other side of the ocean, an uncle approached the Earth Nation shore. A feisty nephew trails closely.

**Author's Note:**

> Please revive this author with comments. Currently sleep deprived.


End file.
